macs-fan-control
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crystalidea
Multiple control sources/speed scaling
From a user:
I'd really like to see multiple rules for fan speeds if possible; selecting thresholds for several sensors, using whichever threshold is highest to dictate fan speed at given moment.
IE, Controlling based on ambient, battery and cpu, raising fan speed if any of these trigger.
Also, I'd really like to have an option for each that dictates whether the speed is controlled in a linear or logarithmic fashion. I'd love to have the fan speed ramped up in a logarithmic scale for GPU/CPU diodes but only linear for battery and ambient (purely examples).
Seconding this. The forum thread is from 2014, 5 years later and we haven’t seen this implemented yet.
Hopefully if I understand this request for linear vs logarithmic, so the fan speeds don't cycle up and down two or three times a minute, but rather keep a more even fan speed over all, rather than sudden changes in speed, as mine does currently.
A more gradual change in fan speeds like the SMC does, not responding so quickly to temporary fluctuations in the temperature of veryous sensors.
If this is what there getting at here, then yes this would be a great improvement to fan control and I'm in favor of this big time!
You might look at how custom GPU control software implements this for ideas. It may or may not be overkill, but AMD Afterburner (some years ago) would let you define custom curves. Temperature on the X axis, fan speed on the Y axis. If you wanted to build a poor man's version, you could implement this using about a dozen vertical sliders, like audio equalizers. Then maybe add a text box below each slider to define the temperature value it controls. Then add a simple linear interpolation between each slider for computing the actual value.
From what I can tell, the SMC by default not only ramps up fan speeds more gradually, it reacts more slowly, so that very brief temperature spikes don’t trigger the fans unnecessarily.
I can’t remember which other fan-control app I tried, but there was one that let you set multiple thresholds, eg. temperature X1 → set fan to 20%, X2 → 40%, etc. If Macs Fan Control added support for multiple sensors as a first step, that could then be expanded in future versions to support more-complex rules like multiple fan-speed thresholds.
This is now the feature I’d most like to see for 1.5.9. I often forget to change presets after certain tasks or playing a game, which is something that multiple sensors would entirely take care of it. And since that feature would lessen the need for multiple presets, it could be Pro-only.
Sometimes my CPU gets too hot, and sometimes my SSD gets too hot -- it depends on the task. If I set a threshold for the fans to kick on based on the CPU, I sometimes miss the SSD getting too hot, and if I set instead based on the SSD, I sometimes miss the CPU getting too hot. I would love the ability to use both sensors -- essentially, to use both presets at once. So, if the CPU passes a particular temp OR if the SSD passes another particular temp, turn the fans on/up.
it seems like an entirely logical feature. I was absolutely stunned that it didn't exist, although the reality is, the CPU is almost always the problem. Maybe the GPU if I'm running iMovie (crashes with eGPUs) and something else, but it's almost always a CPU turbo boost that sends the thing from 50C to 103C in 2 seconds, and moving the fans from "Apple Quiet" to "Max" means a 25% performance boost (due to less throttling).
Those appear to be interesting idea. After discovering XS Lab's Hot application, I'd also add this suggestion: Macs Fan Control could set fan speed according to throttling: for example, it could allow for throttling down to 80% before kicking up fan speed, and keep it just fast enough that throttling doesn't go down.
Faster is sometimes desirable (For example, on startup, when load number is very high), but quieter is always desirable, at least for me. Currently, a pre-unibody MacBook of mine ramps up fan speed very gradually, but takes forever to reduce it. At the same time, this model does appear to have an incredibly short operating temperature range: minimum CPU usage yields 65 degrees, throttling starts at 73 degrees after 10 or so minutes. And before you ask, no, heatsink is clean enough, has been replaced 3 years ago, and CPU re-pasted.
This would be just another setting: Fixed rpm Set speed according to sensor X (here, one can select any sensor) Set speed according to target throttling.
As a poor man's version, I set up MFC for fixed fan speed, and keep an eye on throttling % to know when more air is needed.
